LIFE IN PLASTIC, IT’S FANTASTIC: We Took Fred Perry x Raf Simons Autumn 2018 to Ibiza

August 31, 2018

Belgian designer Raf Simons has been designing special collections with the Fred Perry label for a decade now. To commemorate the 10th anniversary this summer, the British tennis shirt giant dropped 100 archival pieces, vacuum-packed for posterity, in locations around the world. Each destination was selected for its budding subcultures – a seasonal homage to ten years of collaboration, and a celebration of the future of cultural experimentation.

Honoring the Fred Perry x Raf Simons Autumn 2018 collection – the “first in a new decade” – the latest looks were vacuum-packed, too. When they arrived at the 032c Workshop, we knew exactly what to do: take them to the rave Mecca Ibiza earlier this week. 032c Fashion Director Marc Goehring field-tested the creations during the festivities on Spain’s vacation island. Of course, they were a breeze to pack and held their own in the pool, but in and out of plastic, the co-branded pieces stay true to the DIY spirit of the Fred Perry brand, and to the experimental versatility Simons is known for.

Apparently, British tennis star Fred Perry invented the sweat band. As the story goes, an Austrian footballer named Tibby Wegner had invested in an anti-perspirant device designed to be worn around the wrist, and approached Perry with the idea in the 1940s. Perry adapted it, and the now ubiquitous accessory was born – popular first on the tennis court, and in subsequent decades, in the street. Wegner and Perry’s next project would take the cake, however: a white knit cotton-piqué short-sleeved shirt, launched at Wimbledon in 1952. Once the garment began to be produced in other colors, it took on a life of its own, becoming popular in the 1960s with instigators of what was arguably the first big fringe movement to emerge on the Eastern side of the Atlantic after the war: Mods. Ever since, the Fred Perry tennis shirt has been adopted as a uniform by various youth- and subcultures in England and globally, its laurel wreath logo an unexpected emblem for originality, individuality, and rebellion.

The Fred Perry x Raf Simons Autumn 2018 collection channels that DIY sensibility into classic Fred Perry shapes, subverting their proportions and materials with oversized cuts, flashes of tartan and color, and high-shine panels reminiscent of the duct tape you might see holding a wallet or steel-toe boots together. Simons is no stranger to subcultures, having launched his own label in the mid-1990s with inflections of punk, gabba, and English New Wave. Simons’ non-conformity makes the designer an appropriate pick for an athleisure brand named for one of the most versatile and polarizing tennis players in the history of the game. (Perry is said to have shouted “Very clevah!” whenever his opponent made a particularly good shot – an example of the “punk” attitude that infuriated other players, and attracted celebrity status off the court.)

As the 100 pieces selected from the Fred Perry x Raf Simons archive continue to appear around the world – so far, the project has gone to Athens, Seoul, Dubai, and Los Angeles, among other cities – photographers Olya Oleinic and Kyle Weeks are on the scene, capturing the garments around the world while fans follow the trip via Fred Perry’s official Instagram. See the journey so far and catch a preview of the fresh collection here, or in real life at Fred Perry shops in Paris on September 6, on September 13 in Munich, or on September 27 in Berlin, where there will be drinks, a DJ set, and a video installation on view from from 5-8pm.

Related Content

What are tactical and technical garments? Why are they suddenly on the runway? Artist, personal trainer and designer Nik Kosmas unearths the category's origins, and reviews a selection of 2018's best apparel from Crye Precision, Arc’teryx, Lundhags, and 5.11 Tactical.MoreAugust 7, 2018

Gosha Rubchinskiy's meteoric rise to pre-eminence was in fact almost a decade in the making. In his most extensive interview to date, taken from 032c Issue #29, he explains the emergence of VHS tapes and Tommy Hilfiger in Russia, taking skate culture to Comme des Garçons, and inventing a language for post-global youth culture. MoreJune 15, 2016

Deeper

Theaster Gates' “The Black Image Corporation” presents photographs from the holdings of Chicago’s Johnson Publishing Company, a sprawling archive that shaped “the aesthetic and cultural languages of contemporary African American identity.” Gates approached the project as a celebration and activation of the black image in Milan through photographs of women photographed by Moneta Sleet Jr. and Isaac Sutton – of black entrepreneurship and legacy-making. “Life exists” in the Johnson archive, he says, just as it exists and should be honored in other places of black creativity.MoreNovember 19, 2018

If not you, then who?EmailA semi-regular digest of our latest content, products, and activities. GDPR-proof. We don’t spam.

Members ASAP, Monkey, LD, Dimzy, Liquez, and SJ are branching out. “67 can release rizla,” says LD ahead of the UK drill collective’s appearance this weekend in Berlin. “Not everybody can do that. A lot of people are just rappers.”MoreNovember 12, 2018

032c Resist Pin

The painter David Ostrowski has been off the radar for the last few years. A former student of Albert Oehlen and graduate of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Ostrowski is best known for his large abstract paintings, which often include the use of spray cans and a formalistic approach to shape. Now he's back, with a new body of work and two shows – the first of which opens in Warsaw at the progressive gallery space Wschód this weekend.MoreOctober 26, 2018

“While other far-right elements intellectualize or excuse Trump’s authoritarianism, KANYE provided a concise explanation for the president’s appeal. In a world lacking order, Kanye seemed to say, TRUMP IS DADDY.

West’s new thought allies largely glossed over the red-pill undercurrent of his attraction to Trump. His incoherent grasp of traditional conservative principles would be ignored entirely. But in a movement that now defines itself primarily by its CULTURE WAR with liberal ideas and institutions, West – no matter how erratic he might be or tenuous his grasp of ideology – is a high-profile ally and, more important, a potent LIB-OWNING ASSET.”

“When Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipes from tha Dogg’s Kitchen comes out on Oct. 23, Snoop Dogg will officially join the pantheon of experts who are here to tell us all how to live well. He’s more relatable than Gwyneth Paltrow, more laid back than his pal Martha Stewart, and less intimidating than Oprah Winfrey—but no less canny an executive than any of them.” (Via Chronicle Books and Quartzy)